In Australia and many other countries, bush and forest fires pose a threat to residential and rural properties. Typically, fires which extend over a large expanse, such as in a bush or forest fire, industrial or chemical fires, present particular problems in regard to delivering dousing materials and/or fire retardants quickly and precisely over threatened areas, whilst minimising risks to fire fighters and surrounding assets. Conventional fire fighting techniques involve controlling the progress of a fire at a perimeter, which may involve back burning.
In the case of bush and forest fires that typically pose a threat to residential and rural properties in hot dry weather, airborne burning materials can start spot-fires that reach residences and other assets when the fire front has not reached the same location. In most instances owners of such properties may have difficulty with putting out such fires with conventional garden hoses or fire extinguishers, and are helpless at stopping the fire causing damage to the their property and assets.
The disadvantage of garden (and other) hoses is that they require large volumes of water, and in some instances they are not able to adequately reach the location of the fire. Even in situations where large volumes of water are available, the use of water hosed thereon can result in the damage to the assets. Large volumes of water sprayed on to assets can also create further problems in other fire fighting scenarios. For example, where a fire has taken place on a small boat, too much water sprayed thereon may cause other safety issues, such as the sinking or partial sinking of the boat.
Also, the disadvantage of a conventional hand-carried pressurised fire extinguisher of the type containing foam or “dry chemicals”, is that it generally only has a short period of operation and of use for a very small fire. Such a conventional fire extinguisher is not effective for a scenario where a property owner may have to put out a number of spot fires that are threatening his/her property.
The present invention seeks to provide a fire extinguisher that will ameliorate or overcome at least one of the deficiencies of the prior art.